By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Trey Malone, an agricultural economist with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, has been named Farm Foundation’s 2023 Agricultural Economics Fellow.

FARM FOUNDATION FELLOW — Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station economist Trey Malone attends the Farm Foundation Roundation in Savannah, Georgia, on Jan. 11, 2023. (U of A System Division of Ag photo)

“The Farm Foundation Fellows program is a well-known and highly respected program that brings together some of the brightest minds in our profession to work and learn together on timely and important agricultural policy topics,” said John Anderson, head of the agricultural economics and agribusiness department. “With his broad interests and exceptional knowledge of policy issues and tools, Dr. Malone will be an outstanding addition to the Farm Foundation program. It will be great to have an Arkansas and Mid-South perspective on issues so well represented among this elite group of policy influencers.”

Farm Foundation’s Agricultural Economics Fellow program is a yearlong program for a faculty agricultural economist. Founded in 1933, Farm Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that works to find solutions to issues in agriculture, from farmer health and market development to sustainability and implementing new technologies in agriculture. The agricultural economics fellows program started in 2021.

The 2023 fellowship is focused on sustainable food systems and will provide an opportunity to work with diverse stakeholders on integrated systems approaches to building more sustainable food systems, with a special focus on agricultural production approaches.

As a Farm Foundation Agricultural Economics Fellow, Malone will work with diverse stakeholders to build more sustainable food systems. For example, he will meet with staff in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Chief Economist and participate in the Farm Foundation and USDA Economics Research Service Ag Scholars program on a recurring basis. He will also meet with other participants in Farm Foundation’s suite of next generation programs as time allows.

Malone’s research for the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, focuses on agribusiness entrepreneurship and resiliency in agri-food supply chains.

“We are excited to welcome Dr. Malone to our Agricultural Economics Fellowship program,” said Martha King, vice president of programs and projects at Farm Foundation. “His perspectives on agribusiness and consumer behavior will be an invaluable resource and will serve as a unique springboard for collaboration.”

In addition to being mentored by staff in the USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist, Malone in turn will mentor participants in the Farm Foundation and USDA Economic Research Service Agricultural Scholars program, among other engagements.

Malone joined the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station in 2022. In November he was awarded the 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Research Communication from the Food Distribution Research Society.

In addition to teaching courses through the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, Malone serves as co-editor of the Agricultural & Resource Economics Review and managing editor of the International Food & Agribusiness Review.

He holds master’s and doctorate degrees in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University and a bachelor’s degree from Rockhurst University.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Trey Malone, assistant professor in the agricultural economics and agribusiness department for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, was recently awarded the 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Research and Communication from the Food Distribution Research Society.

RESEARCH AWARD —Trey Malone was recently awarded for his work on a Journal of Food Distribution Research article. (Photo courtesy Caroline Kraft Malone)

He was selected for his work on a Journal of Food Distribution Research article titled “The Changing Role of Fat Perceptions in Fluid Milk Labeling: Would the Dairy Industry Sell More if 2% Milk Was Called 98% Fat Free?” Malone’s co-authors and fellow award recipients include Oishi Kazi and Steven Miller from Michigan State University and Christopher Wolf from Cornell University. Malone conducts research for the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, and teaches in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

“This is certainly a well-deserved award,” said John Anderson, head of the agricultural economics and agribusiness department. “Dr. Malone has an exceptional ability to identify relevant problems, to conceptualize those problems in ways that provide unique insights, and to apply appropriate methods to address researchable questions.”

Anderson, who is also director of the Fryar Price Risk Management Center of Excellence, said the project Malone was awarded for is an example of how “effective and impactful his approach to research can be.”

The milk marketing study explored how perceptions of fat content may have changed over the past few decades. Malone said these changes are particularly relevant for the dairy industry as fluid milk is marketed with several fat content options. The article explored the consequences of how fat is described on the fluid milk label. Their research indicated that consumers would pay less for 2 percent fat milk if labeled “98% fat-free milk.”

“At the end of the day, even though people have different beliefs about milk fat, there is no evidence that changing the label would lead to a positive nudge in consumer willingness to pay,” Malone said.

In the research article, Malone and his co-authors note the scientific consensus regarding the link between fat and health risks has changed relative to prior decades. Studies that influenced government recommendations in the 1970s and 80s on dietary fat and cholesterol, for example, were turned on their head by 2015 when dietary guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services dropped “fat” as a “nutrient of concern” and imposed no upper limit on total fat consumption but recommended keeping saturated fat intake within less than 10 percent of total calorie intake. The article pointed to studies that found inconsistent evidence of an association between whole-fat dairy and cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes.

Total sales of fluid milk, compared to cheese and butter, have continued a downward trend over the past 50 years, but not all varieties of fluid milk are in decline, the journal article noted. Between 2010 and 2015, trends in whole milk, 2 percent (reduced fat) milk, and skim milk sales seem to have reversed compared to prior years. Skim milk sales peaked in 1998 and have decreased to 1975 levels. Meanwhile, following decades of decline, aggregate whole milk consumption has increased each year since 2013 with 2019 being 17 percent higher than six years earlier. In 2018, whole milk passed 2 percent (reduced fat) milk as the largest milkfat category consumed.

“This article was fun to write, as it showcases the importance of cognitive processes for consumer decision-making in the agri-food industry,” Malone said.

Malone, a former professor at Michigan State who joined the experiment station in 2022, will teach a food and agricultural marketing undergraduate course at the University of Arkansas in the spring of 2023.

“I’m excited to start teaching students in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. I’d like to think that my approach to food and agricultural marketing is like a behavioral supply chain logistics course.”

“We are excited to have him bringing his practical, problem-solving perspective to food marketing into the classroom in the agricultural economics and agribusiness department,” Anderson said.

Malone will also teach an agribusiness entrepreneurship course in the spring of 2023.

Malone has conducted studies to assist stakeholders in many agricultural value chains, including dairy, beef, eggs, hops, hemp and morel mushrooms.

In addition to preparing grant proposals and advising Ph.D. students, Malone is working on a new tool for business owners called the Food and Agriculture Systems Sentiment Index in collaboration with Brandon McFadden, Tyson Endowed Chair in Food Policy Economics for the experiment station. The index is in review and expected to be available for use by the public early next year. Malone was also recently appointed as a mentor for the Venture Mentor Service with the University of Arkansas Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Farm Foundation names Malone 2023 Agricultural Economics Fellow

Arkansas ag econ professor awarded by Food Distribution Research Society